Michael Chopra and James Coppinger, professional footballers with Ipswich Town and Doncaster Rovers, were warned off from racing for 10 and three years respectively for their roles in a conspiracy to stop horses and corrupt the sport. The central figure in the plot was Andrew Heffernan, a jockey, who was banned from racing for 15 years for stopping three horses in races at Lingfield and Kempton Park in January and February 2011.

The nine individuals found to have been involved in the conspiracy were banned from racing for 70 years and six months in all. They included Yogesh Joshee, a football agent who formerly represented Chopra, who was warned off for five years, Mark Wilson, who was playing for Doncaster Rovers at the time of the offences, who was banned for 10 years, and Kelly Inglis, a former girlfriend of Heffernan, banned for four years.

The most serious charges in the case involved three horses ridden by Heffernan: Wanchai Whisper (9-2) at Lingfield on 28 January, Gallantry (11-1) at Kempton on 2 February and Silver Guest (6-1) at Lingfield on 9 February.

All three were the subject of substantial lay bets in the place market on the Betfair and, in the case of Silver Guest, Betdaq betting exchanges. Wanchai Whisper finished second, which cost the conspirators £1,600, but both Gallantry and Silver Guest finished unplaced, winning £9,500 and £8,600 for those who laid them, against potential liabilities of £21,500 and £16,300.

In the case of Silver Guest the money from accounts connected to Heffernan and his co-conspirators comprised approximately 70% of Betfair's entire market on the race.

Heffernan appeared at the recent inquiry into the case, to give evidence, but was not present at the British Horseracing Authority to hear the result or attend the subsequent hearing to decide on the penalties. Chopra and Coppinger both declined to take any part in the proceedings.

Chopra said earlier this month that he would welcome any ban as he attempts to confront a gambling problem. "It is well publicised that I have a gambling addiction," Chopra said, "and I see any such sanctions as being a useful mechanism in helping me to address these problems."

In a statement to the Press Association, Steve Pearce, Ipswich Town's press officer, said that it was "a private matter between Michael and the British Horseracing Authority".

Both the Football Association and the Gambling Commission – which has the power to refer the case to the police – have been kept closely informed of the progress of the investigation, however, and could now decide to take action of their own.

The other individuals involved in the case were: Paul Garner, a registered stable lad at Alan McCabe's yard at the time of the offences, who was found to have placed a "lay" bet on a horse from the stable where he was employed; Pravin Shingadia, a friend of Joshee; and Douglas Shelley, a businessman. They received bans from racing of 12 and a half years, three years and eight years respectively.

Adam Brickell, the BHA's director of integrity, legal and risk, said after the panel's findings had been published that his department's investigation had been "extremely complex" and that "an elaborate network of corruption has been identified and successfully prosecuted".

Brickell added: "While we remain confident that the overwhelming majority of races which take place in Britain are free of any suspicion, this case highlights that we can never be complacent in our efforts to maintain the integrity of British racing and to educate those involved with the sport, including the betting public, about the misuse of information.."

Heffernan rode out his apprentice's claim in August 2011, after which he moved to Australia to continue a riding career which will be all but impossible to resurrect if he accepts his 15-year ban.

The panel's reasons for imposing its penalties will be published at a later date, after which all those found in breach of the rules will have seven days to lodge an appeal.

The panel's detailed reasons for its findings, which were also published on Friday, offer a clear and compelling picture of a series of attempts to corrupt racing and betting, and also of the deliberate, and at times almost comically inventive, attempts of those involved to escape punishment.

Heffernan, for instance, is described as a "thoroughly unconvincing" and "generally untruthful witness", who included "many improbabilities and absurdities in his version of events".

When asked for evidence that one of his mobile phone numbers had been suspended during the period under investigation, his brother Christopher eventually supplied what was described as "crude scissors and paste job", prompting the panel to note that his "reliance upon it in evidence and refusal to confront its plain absurdities was still further reason to treat him as a wholly unreliable witness."

Heffernan also denied using Inglis's phone to contact Chopra, although text messages on the phone made it plain that he had, and maintained that frequent phone calls from Chopra to his mobile phone were evidence that the footballer was conducting an affair with Inglis.

This, the panel decided, "demonstrated the ridiculous lengths to which he was driven to continue to maintain the lie that he did not know of or speak with Chopra. If he was having such an affair, why on earth would he be phoning the man she was living with."